Wahbi Khazri has wasted little time in establishing himself as Sunderland’s set-piece specialist.

The £9m January signing from Bordeaux set the Black Cats on their way to a fantastic 2-1 victory over Manchester United with a free-kick goal - and then laid on the winner with one of his deadly-accurate corner.

It was only Tunisia international Khazri’s third outing in a red-and-white shirt, and he had already shown his set-piece skills on his debut when he twice almost caught out Man City’s England keeper Joe Hart direct from corner kicks.

And his deadball skills will be a major asset for Sunderland in their battle against the drop.

“It’s good to score for the first time and good for my confidence,” said the 25-year-old.

“For me to score and for us to beat Man United, makes it even better.

“Obviously when I was at Bordeaux, I had a lot of success with my set pieces.

“I’m happy that the [winning] goal came from one of my corners and hopefully that will continue.

“Set pieces are such an important part of modern football.”

Khazri’s low free-kick was dummied by Jermain Defoe, deceiving Man U keeper David De Gea and finding its way into the bottom corner to give Sunderland the lead after only three minutes.

Anthony Martial levelled shortly before half-time, but with eight minutes remaining Lamine Kone’s header from Khazri’s corner squeezed under De Gea and Martial’s attempted goalline clearance hit the grounded goalie and rebounded into the net.

After Sunderland’s excellent performance in defeat against Man City two weeks ago, and then their late comeback to force a draw at Liverpool last weekend, this win was another big step in the right direction for the Black Cats, moving them to within a point of exiting the bottom three.

Khazri said: “It was very important to win.

“We played a good match against Manchester City, but lost. Got a good point at Liverpool and then we’ve won against Man United.

“We’ve got to be very happy with that run.

“It’s good for the confidence of the team because we know what a good team Man United are.

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“They are one of the best teams in England, but hopefully if we keep working hard, then we can win more matches.

“I don’t know how many more wins we need.

“We’ve just got to take it match-by-match and do what we need to stay in the Premier League.”

With no FA Cup fifth round game for Sunderland next weekend, the Black Cats fly out to Dubai tomorrow for a warm weather training camp.

Boss Sam Allardyce said after the game that his new signings were ‘on their knees’ in the dressing room after being thrown in at the deep end in the Premier League, and facing three of the top teams in the country in the space of a fortnight.

And Khazri added: “It will be good to recuperate properly and work on a few things, because the matches come around so quickly.

“We need to win as many games as possible if we are to get out of the relegation zone.

“I’m okay after the three matches. It’s football. You should be tired!”

But Khazri believes the physicality of English football will play to his strengths better than the style he encountered in France.

He said: “It’s intensive the football in this country, whereas in France it’s more tactical and defensive.

“Here it’s more open and the teams are more attack-minded.

“I think it suits me. And I think it’s the same for the other new boys, because we’ve all settled in really well. Hopefully that continues.”